[Burdzthewurd]

I read time and time again from the likes of Negreanu, Hellmuth, Esfariandi, Greenstein, etc. about how a player must go broke once or twice when playing poker. Why is this a necessity? All of us have had downswings (some larger than others), but I don't feel I can justify any reason for me flushing my bankroll down the toilet unless it's a state of emergency and I need to use it for other means.

It seems further complicated with the utilty tools like PokerAce, PokerTracker, etc. (I'll be honest and say I don't use these much, I care more about reads and take a lot of notes, not rely on numbers). With all the different limits for every game, even if you go down 10-20 buy-ins, you should be able to move down at worst to the microlimits and build your roll back up. I do play games with huge variance (PLO where 10-20 buy-in swings are not uncommon, and Limit HE), but also low variance games such as Omaha Hi/lo and Stud Hi/Lo (two very underrated games I think newbies and beginners should consider learning first before Hold'em; you only need 100-200x BB to start these up to 5/10), so I don't have a problem taking a break from one and switching to another. Yes, everyone and their grandmother will say only play NL or Limit Hold'em because you make the most money that way. And yes, it's best to master one specfic game before you try anything else. I personally desire to make a living after college playing poker, that's a reason why I do my best to mix it up and play every game well.

Doing this keeps me fresh, and it helps in terms of table selection if there are no good limit HE games going (that's usually a rare thing, though), but you are always going to be able to find a fishy PLO/PLO8/LO8 game going. I digress, though. Is it evident these professionals say something like this because they did not have online back when they started (I'm pretty sure online poker was around when Esfariandi started, though before its boom)? I mean yes, everyone does something stupid at one point or another (playing the $1000 NLHE WSOP event would be mine, took a large chunk out of my roll), but I just can't see going broke being reasonable if you don't play above your limits, cash out all the time, loan money to someone who doesn't pay back, and don't steam/tilt off your cash. Bonuses and rakeback are also some good fallbacks. Thoughts anyone?